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union and jove 1-2-2016

by jove, the group says hi from the summit of jove peak

there is a reason i keep coming back to these two peaks - it is an awesome snowshoe tour - and this trip was no exception. a great start to my new year happened when brian and andrea, up from cali for the holidays, emailed that they wanted to get together to do a trip. we all wanted something not too far from their base in bellingham, that would satisfy my avy safety concerns. evergreen mt lookout was our choice. it was really cool when steph emailed that she wanted to join us too :>)

ah, but the new year does not always like to start without some drama - our friend matt emailed and let us know the forest service showed the beckler river road, the approach for evergreen, was blocked by snow. we needed a substitute and fortunately everyone quickly agreed on the union by jove trip. drama over(at least until the drive home)! we parked off of hiway 2, at the beginning of the smithbrook road, aka the walk-in-freezer. that valley the roads goes through, expels heat like a body removes waste when it drinks water in a third world country - brutal. we walked the smithbrook road and then put on snowshoes when we left the road to ascend to union. the higher up we got the warmer, well, make that less cold, it got. the short section that brian and steph broke trail was pretty strenuous, but the snow was an order of magnitude easier than the last time i was up there -

on union peak, with jove in the background

we soon reached the summit of union, but did not linger as the cold and wind drove us on. the sun was nice where we could find wind breaks. before we knew it, we were on the summit of jove and then scurried back down to a place out of the wind to enjoy lunch. everybody was cold, but everyone was really digging the trip. there was lots of cool snow features that gave brian some really fun, steep drops to snowshoe/ski down. it was so cool catching up with everyone. a really great group of people. descent was all fun!

when we returned to the smithbrook road, we had the pleasure of running into jim k, whom i first met when we did earl peak 11-6-2004 and have run into numerous times in the mountains since. he was returning from mccausland with kim b(who gave me the warmest welcome i can remember from someone i had never met before), gwen and kevin. it was fun talking to them, but the cold and waning daylight drove us on. we even were dispensed bonus time to catch up, as we had about an hour traffic delay(one might have thought that was in sultan(insulting), but it was actually before there. thanks for the great trip!!! :>) ps to iron(in case you read this) - we did three(3) summits: union, jove and then union again on the way back!!! :>) 10.24mi 3863' gain 2:51 car to union summit 0:03 summit stay 1:20 union summit to jove summit 0:24 lunch break 1:05 jove summit to union summit 2:17 union summit to car 8:00 car to car equipment: snowshoes equipment brought, but not used: ice axe, micro-spikes

[raising3hikers]

the wind was blowing pretty hard on the ridge up to jove on the 1st, i bet my tracks were just about gone. glad you guys had a good trip, i should have waited another day and did that trip with you guys had i known your final plan.

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[contour5]

Cool. I really like the first pano. Looks like this might make a nice overnight a bit later in the season...

[JimK]

Brett, it was fun to run into you and your friends on the way down. You folks did a bit more elevation gain than we did on McCausland. Hard to believe it has been 11 years since that Earl Peak trip with the Mountaineers. Just for fun, here is a link to my report of that trip: Earl Peak Report I looked through some photos that were not in the report and came up with this one:

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[Gwen]

Oh sweet! This looks like one to put on the books for the next super sunny weekend (especially since I didn't take any photos from the summit of McCausland - too damn cold!). Might have to wait until there's a few more hours to the day though - I'm slow. Great running into you (and the famous Steph!). I'd have given you a warm welcome like Quarkie but I was feeling a little rough around the edges by that point. Everyone put in such a good strong effort this past weekend - really great to see!

[iron]

nice pics hollywood. 3 summits on a 2-summit trip is the way to do it! that's doin' it the man way.